You people of the South don't know what you are doing. This country will be drenched in blood, and God only knows how it will end.

If forced to choose between the penitentiary and the White House for four years, I would say the penitentiary, thank you.

War is cruelty. There is no use trying to reform it. The crueler it is, the sooner it will be over.

You cannot qualify war in harsher terms than I will. War is cruelty, and you cannot refine it; and those who brought war into our country deserve all the curses and maledictions a people can pour out. I know I had no hand in making this war, and I know I will make more sacrifices to-day than any of you to secure peace.

If I had my choice I would kill every reporter in the world, but I am sure we would be getting reports from Hell before breakfast.

I see every chance of a long, confused and disorganizing civil war, and I feel no desire to take a hand therein.

To secure the safety of the navigation of the Mississippi River I would slay millions. On that point I am not only insane, but mad... I think I see one or two quick blows that will astonish the natives of the South and will convince them that, though to stand behind a big cottonwood and shoot at a passing boat is good sport and safe, it may still reach and kill their friends and families hundreds of miles off. For every bullet shot at a steamboat, I would shoot a thousand 30-pounder Parrots into even helpless towns on Red, Ouachita, Yazoo, or wherever a boat can float or soldier march.